Montana
No. 2 Montana State whips No. 9 Montana 34-11, clinches 12-0 regular season
BOZEMAN — The only thing that could have made this football season any sweeter for Montana State was the one thing that remained on its list of regular-season expectations.
Against their arch nemesis on Saturday, the Bobcats didn’t blink.
Adam Jones rushed for 197 yards and two touchdowns, the defense rose up and No. 2-ranked MSU took care of ninth-ranked Montana 34-11 to win the 123rd Brawl of the Wild at Bobcat Stadium.
Slim Kimmel / MTN Sports
With the win, the Bobcats clinched a perfect regular season at 12-0, won the outright Big Sky Conference title with an 8-0 league mark and in all likelihood secured a top-two seed and home-field advantage for the upcoming FCS playoffs — if not the overall No. 1 seed.
Though their running back corps was diminished with both Scottre Humphrey and Julius Davis in street clothes on the sideline, the Bobcats still rushed for 326 yards with Jones, a redshirt freshman out of Missoula Sentinel, leading the way.
The home team has now won five in a row in the storied history of the Cat-Griz rivalry, and Montana State has still not lost a regular-season home game in the four-year tenure of coach Brent Vigen.
Slim Kimmel / MTN Sports
The Bobcats established their running game at the outset by marching 75 yards on 14 plays, 12 of which were runs. Mellott capped the drive with a 5-yard touchdown run on what appeared to be a broken play to put MSU ahead 7-0.
MSU converted two third downs on that drive and took nearly nine minutes off the clock.
A promising Griz drive was slowed by penalties in the second quarter, but Ty Morrison got Montana on the board by splitting the uprights on a 47-yard field goal to make the score 7-3.
But the Bobcats stretched their lead on the next possession when Mellott dropped a pretty pass over the top to tight end Rohan Jones for a 35-yard touchdown at the 10:16 mark of the second quarter.
Toward the end of the first half, the Bobcats got a 27-yard field goal from Myles Sansted to extend the lead to 17-3. With an even bigger kick, Sansted drilled a 49-yarder as time expired at halftime to extend it to 20-3.
Each team’s defense rose up in the second half as the offenses combined for five consecutive fruitless possessions. But with the Bobcats backed up on their own 5-yard line, Adam Jones exploded took a handoff and exploded through the line for an 88-yard gain.
Slim Kimmel / MTN Sports
Two plays later Jones punched it into the end zone from the 3 to put the Bobcats ahead 27-3 toward the end of the third quarter.
As the weather started to take a turn with strong wind and snow flurries, Montana scored its first touchdown early in the fourth on a 1-yard rush by Eli Gillman. Sawyer Racanelli then made a one-handed catch while being interfered with for a two-point conversion.
Jones, though, capped a 9-play, 71-yard drive with a 2-yard TD run with 4:49 remaining to ice the game.
The Grizzlies own the all-time series with a 74-43-5 record, but the Bobcats now have the edge with an 11-10 mark since 2002.
Turning point: The game had hit a defensive standstill in the third quarter until Jones’ 88-yard burst to the UM 7. Griz safety Jaxon Lee prevented a touchdown, but two plays later Jones was in the end zone and the Bobcats had a 27-3 lead with 1:55 remaining in the third.
Stat of the game: The Bobcats rushed for more than 300 yards again, but perhaps more important was the defense’s ability to get off the field on third down.
Slim Kimmel / MTN Sports
MSU’s defense held the Grizzlies to a 2 for 12 success rate on third down and forced seven punts. In the end, the Bobcats limited Montana’s offense to 234 total yards.
Game balls: MSU RB Adam Jones (Offense). Davis was injured in the first quarter and didn’t return and Humphrey had just one attempt, so Jones was called up on to take the brunt of the carries. He delivered with a standout performance.
MSU S Rylan Ortt (Defense). The Bobcats defense played a great game overall, and Ortt was one of the ringleaders with 11 tackles (eight solo), was in on a tackle for loss and had one quarterback hurry.
MSU PK Myles Sansted (Special teams). Sansted hit both of his field goal tries, and his 49-yarder as time expired in the first half allowed MSU to take a 17-point lead into the locker room.
What’s next: With a 12-0 record, Montana State is in line for a top-two seed in the FCS playoffs, which would mean a first-round bye and home-field advantage through the semifinal round. The Cats could get the No. 1 overall seed after South Dakota beat North Dakota State 29-28.
The Grizzlies, who are now 8-4 (and 5-3 in the Big Sky), are likely to receive an at-large bid into the tournament.
The 24-team bracket will be announced Sunday with the 2024 NCAA Division I Championship Selection Show on Sunday at 10:30 p.m. Mountain time on ESPNU. The show is also available for streaming on ESPN+.
BUTTE, Mont. — The Sentinel Spartans are the kings of Montana AA baseball.
In the inaugural season of AA baseball in the Treasure State, Sentinel took the title by winning three games in two days at the State AA Tournament, culminating with a 6-3 championship game victory over the Gallatin Raptors.
“It’s tough to find words right now,” said Sentinel head coach Brian Moser. “It was pretty emotional celebrating with the guys. Just really happy for them. What an opportunity. They took advantage of it. Very proud of them. Very appreciative of everything they’ve done for me and Sentinel High School and Sentinel baseball. It’s a great night to be a Spartan.”
Junior Stellan Ridley was stellar for Sentinel, with two triples, two runs scored, and two runs batted in. Kaden Thennis added two hits, two runs, and an RBI while also drawing a hit by pitch. Owen Dale had a hit and a run batted in.
“We have a great mentality,” said Ridley. “I’m so proud of these young guys. As a junior and the seniors, leading us to this and showing how discipline works. We faced some chirpy people, and we just stayed with our level of the game and we performed, as you can see. We won the State Tournament!”
Each win for Sentinel in the tournament came in vastly different fashion.
The Spartans earned a nine-inning victory in their quarterfinal against Butte on Thursday, then came back from a 6-0 deficit after 4.5 innings in their Friday semifinal matinee against the Glacier Wolfpack. But on Friday night, in a game that started at 10 p.m. and ended at 12:08 a.m., Sentinel took an early lead and never trailed enroute to a victory over a Raptors team that had lost just one game all season.
“I had never played a game that late. Going from the early game, it was good that we had that little gap, we got to recuperate and take a solid power nap and come back out here with a lot of energy. Because if we came out flat, there was no way. But we came out with a lot of energy, and we stuck it to them. I mean, that team was good,” said Ridley of their hot start in the title game.
“Baseball is a funny game. There’s a lot of ways to win, there’s a lot of ways to lose. Just happy for the guys for sticking to it and never giving up.” said Moser. “Honestly, it takes a couple of lucky bounces here and there in a State Tournament, and we got those and took advantage. Beat a really, really good Gallatin team tonight. Just extremely proud.”
Gallatin managed to tie the game at 3 apiece in the fifth inning before the Spartans scored one in the sixth and two in the seventh, allowing freshman pitcher Lucas Johansson to earn the win and the save on the mound.
“It’s a big deal. 3 runs are way more than 1. It takes a lot of what the offense can do away. So those were huge, huge runs,” said Moser.
Johansson picked up two of the three wins in the tournament for Sentinel, while fellow freshman Paxson Onstot had the victory in the triumph over Glacier.
“I’m not going to say that’s how we drew it up, but that hopefully gives them confidence to come back next year ready to go,” said Moser. “We’ll have a target on our backs, but that’s okay. A lot of youth, it’s fun.”
Keaton Elliott tossed the first 4.1 innings of the title game for Sentinel, allowing just two hits, three earned runs, and five walks while striking out two.
The title marked the end of a remarkable turnaround for a Spartans team that started the season with a record of 5-7 before winning 10 of their last 11.
“(We got) absolutely shamed by our entire school (at assembly). It sat with me this whole time and I hated that. I just had so much drive,” said Ridley. “What are they going to say now?”
Wyatt Ford pitched a complete game for Gallatin, allowing three earned runs, five hits and a hit by pitch while striking out 10 on 103 pitches.
Ford and Louis Musial had the Raptors only two hits on the night, a triple and double, respectively, while Harvey Kimmel had two runs batted in.
Sentinel ends their season with a record of 15-8, while Gallatin concluded their campaign at 18-2.
“I think Gallatin came in here a little cocky. One loss the whole season, thinking they were going to probably roll us,” said Ridley. “No. We showed them up. Their eyes got big, and they realized we’re not a team to mess with.”
HELENA, Mont. — Montana counties have accepted enough signatures for Seth Bodnar, running for U.S. Senate and Michael Eisenhauer, running in Montana’s 2nd Congressional District, to be on the November ballot, although counts are still unofficial.
County election officials are continuing to verify signatures submitted by Tuesday’s deadline as part of the candidate petition process.
The Montana Secretary of State’s Office has not yet verified, certified or accepted the petitions, according to the Secretary of State’s office.
Counties must submit candidate petitions to the Secretary of State’s office by June 1.
The Secretary of State’s office will then conduct its “statutory review to ensure the petitions meet the necessary legal requirements under law.”
The deadline for the November general election ballot to be certified is Thursday, Aug. 20. By then, all qualifying candidates and any potential ballot issues that qualify for the general election will be officially certified.
The following was out by the Montana Secretary of State’s Office:
The attached report is unofficial. It includes totals that the county election officials have processed and entered in the system. These totals do not represent what the Secretary of State’s Office has received, reviewed, tabulated, or certified. The certified totals may differ from what is reflected.
Seth Bodnar, U.S. Senate
- 13,327 required
- 18,772 accepted
- 7,812 rejected
Kimberly Persico, MT-01
- 6,742 required
- 563 accepted
- 156 rejected
Michael Eisenhauer, MT-02
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- 7,274 required
- 7,754 accepted
- 4,720 rejected
Severe storms moved through parts of Montana on Thursday, prompting a total of 5 Severe Thunderstorm Warnings. Reports included strong wind gusts and hail in several communities, including Augusta, Choteau, Sunburst, Bigfork, Kalispell and Evergreen.
The strongest reported wind gust was 60 mph near Augusta, while hail up to 1 inch was reported near Evergreen and Kalispell.
STORM REPORTS:
12 SE Grant — 56 mph thunderstorm wind gust
7 NNE Augusta — 60 mph thunderstorm wind gust
5 ENE Choteau — 59 mph thunderstorm wind gust
Sunburst — 54 mph thunderstorm wind gust
Ennis — 59 mph thunderstorm wind gust
3 SSW Ennis — 52 mph thunderstorm wind gust
2 E Helena — 54 mph thunderstorm wind gust
19 E Swan Lake — 56 mph thunderstorm wind gust
2 NNW Yaak — thunderstorm wind damage – Multiple downed trees reported along Highway 2 between MM 3 and 8
3 WSW Blacktail — 53 mph thunderstorm wind gust
1 NNW Troy — 49 mph thunderstorm wind gust
5 ENE Choteau — 56 mph thunderstorm wind gust
Turah — 0.88″ hail
1 NNW Bigfork — 0.75″ hail
3 SW La Salle — 0.50″ hail
2 N Evergreen — 1.00″ hail
1 W Kalispell — 1.00″ hail
3 WNW Kalispell — 0.75″ hail
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